


In which Ara is mostly gay, Dudley is a bro, and Dumbledore is confused about how it came to this

by SerephinaRaven



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bisexual Harry Potter, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Gen, Good Draco Malfoy, Good Dudley Dursley, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Character of Color, Lesbian Pansy Parkinson, M/M, Non-Explicit Sex, Slytherin Harry Potter, Trans Non-binary Luna Lovegood, harry potter & ron weasley & hermione granger - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 21,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27056356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerephinaRaven/pseuds/SerephinaRaven
Summary: When the Potters found out that they were having a girl, they were equal parts worried and overjoyed. When the Dursleys found out that they would be taking in their niece, all they felt was apprehension.when her letter came and the word freak was uttered, it was her cousin who stood up for her."She isn't a freak, mum." He assured. "She's just a girl."When Aralynn sat on the stool in front of the Great Hall, there had been no blond boy offering her his hand in friendship. There was only a hat that saw into her head and saw a thirst to prove herself. "Where you'll make your true friends," the hat had said, and so when it opened it mouth, the name of the house of serpents was the one that was screamed out. Our hero was a heroine, and she wore green and silver.Hermione spoke, thumbing through a book about wizard sexuality. "Are you gay though? Nothing changes between us if you are.""Mostly," she said."Okay," Hermione said. "There's a word for that. Bisexual."Mostly Gay has a nice ring to it," Ara leaned her elbows back on the grass.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Pansy Parkinson/Harry Potter, Theodore Nott/Blaise Zabini
Comments: 19
Kudos: 237





	1. chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for both chapters: PTSD, character death, torture

When the Potter's found out that they were having a baby girl, they were equal parts worried and overjoyed. When the Dursley's found out that they would be taking in their niece, all they felt was apprehension.

They didn't beat her or put her in a cupboard. But that was more of a gender thing. Instead, she learned to cook and clean and wore secondhand clothes was told that her parents were drunkards. That didn't change.

When she was seven, her teachers wanted to put her in an accelerated program. But the Dursley's wouldn't pay for it, so she stayed in her regular class. She grew up unwanted and unloved but determined to prove herself.

So when nine-year-old Ara was cornered by Dudley and his friends, one of them spoke up hesitantly. "Are you sure, Big D? I mean, she's a girl-"

"She's a freak," Dudley ground out.

Aralynn narrowed her eyes at him. "Tell you what, _Big D,_ " she mocked. "If I can beat one of your stupid friends in a fight, then you guys lay off me and listen to what I say,"

Dudley scoffed. "Against a girl?"

"But I'm not a girl, am I? I'm a freak."

And when Ara fought the skinniest member of their group, she pulled his hair and kneed him in the stomach and punched his nose. She _would not_ be weak.

"Alright," Dudley said hesitantly. His parents hadn't taught him a lot of things, but keeping to your word was the one thing that they stressed on.

And so they didn't beat her up or make fun of her. It took a while, but by the time her eleventh birthday rolled around, Dudley no longer stomped by her room to wake her up or trip her when she was walking. She slowly established herself as a part of the friend group and hung around with them in the neighbourhood.

And when they went to the zoo for Dudley's eleventh and she hissed to the snake, he didn't push her and the glass didn’t disappear. Instead, it was a worried cousin who brought her to the side as his parents spoke to someone they knew. "Listen, Aralynn. Doing that kind of stuff in front of Mum and Dad is only going to make them angrier."

So when her letter came and the word _freak_ was uttered, it was her cousin who stood up for her.

Nevertheless, his parents thought that she used some freakish compulsion on him, but he assured them that she hadn't.

"She isn't a freak, mum." He assured. "She's just a girl."

Ara smiled.

Hagrid was still the one who took her to Diagon, and he bought her Hedwig as a present. But there was no pig tail or a hut in the middle of the sea.

"Eleven inches, Holly and phoenix feather," didn't change. Neither did, "That phoenix gave one other feather, Miss. Potter."

She didn't speak to the blond boy in Madam Malkins, but she did ask to see her assets in Gringotts.

Apparently, she was rich, and she was a lot more famous than she thought. "You can claim your heirship to the black line when you're thirteen, Miss Potter," was what the goblins had told her. Aralynn hadn't known that she had a godfather, but after the strange week that she had, she wasn't surprised.

She visited a small shop next to the alley, bought a few pairs of comfortable clothes and shoes that fit her, and took it to be altered to grow magically along with her.

And when she went back to Number 4, her belongings were kept in her room. The Dursleys saw her off at King's Cross, but it was only Dudley who she hugged.

"I don't know if it's safe for you to come back for the holidays," he said. "But promise me that you'll write,"

She grinned back at him. "Of course I will,"

And there was no guidance needed for Aralynn to reach the platform because the only thing that Aunt Petunia said to her before she left was to walk into the barrier between platforms nine and ten. So there was no red-headed woman to introduce her to her son.

However, there was a little redheaded girl. "Are you a first-year?" the little girl asked hesitantly as Ara stood in front of the train. There was a group of people with Identical red hair, all talking over each other a few feet away.

"I am," she answered. "What's your name?"

"I'm Ginny," she said, "I'm going to Hogwarts next year, but I don’t think my brothers will write to me. Bill and Charlie did, but they're all grown up now."

Ara had no idea what she was talking about, but she felt sympathetic anyway. "I'm Ara," she said. "I'll write to you,"

Ginny's eyes brightened.

Aralynn slipped into an empty carriage at the end of the train, and read silently until she reached Hogwarts. There was no redheaded boy with a pet rat, or a bushy-haired girl asking if she'd seen a toad. Not in this version.

Here, as Ara sat on the stool in front of the school, there had been no blond boy offering her his hand in friendship. There was only a hat that saw into her head and saw a thirst to prove herself. "Where you'll make your true friends," the hat had said, and so when it opened its mouth, the name of the house of serpents was the one that was screamed out.

Our hero was a heroine, and she wore green and silver.

There were no cheers of 'we got potter!' only a hushed silence as she sat down next to Parkinson, Pansy, a pug-faced girl who had been sorted a few seconds earlier.

They were warned of the third-floor corridor by the insane headmaster, and they were taken to their dorms, where the head girl delivered the message that would stick with them for the rest of their years. "We protect each other. We never turn each other in. What happens in Slytherin, stays in Slytherin."

Little Ginny Weasley was surprised and overjoyed a day later when her new friend turned out to be Aralynn Potter, and apprehensive when she heard that the girl was a Slytherin. But she had been kind to her and written as she'd promised to.

In the dorms, there wasn't much talking between the girls, but as they walked to breakfast the next morning Tracy Davis sat down next to her. "Us half-blood Slytherins need to stick together," she said and started to butter her toast.

The next morning, Daphne Greengrass came up to her as she was tying her hair. "Here, Potter," she said, passing Aralynn a green Hair clip. "Pin it back, show some house pride."

Three days later, Millicent and Pansy gave her a list of spells to help curly hair to sit neatly. "If the rumours were true and you were raised by muggles," the pug-faced girl said, "Then these should be helpful."

"Thank you, Parkinson," Ara said to them. She had caught onto the way Slytherins' way of calling each other by last names until they had permission to do otherwise. "I've seen so many girls tear each other down for their own benefit. I'm hoping we won't be like that?"

"Of course not, Potter," Bulstrode said. She was slightly chubby and Ara had heard one of the Gryffindor boys call her a troll. He still didn't know that it was Ara who spilled ink all over his essay.

"Call me Ara," she smiled at them.

"Then call me Milli."

It was unspoken between them, but she and Malfoy didn't speak to each other. He was a pure-blooded supremacist. She was a half-blood who had taken down his family's lord. They would keep all quarrels within the walls of their house.

Slytherins never fought in public.

When Snape saw her, he started. He couldn't bear to look at or say anything to Aralynn, so like James with her questioning eyes and brown skin. But she wore his house's colours and her mother's eyes. So he didn't question or mock her.

When Hermione Granger was crying in the bathroom, Ara went alone. She knew what it was like to not have friends. She sat outside while the other girl spoke softly from inside the stall.

Granger sniffed. "I was always bullied for being black. I hoped that I would be accepted here, but I don’t know…"

Ara leaned her head against the stall. "It's more blood-purity than race," she said by way of reply. "But I know what it's like to be bullied for skin colour."

It was a sweet moment, but then the troll came and the girls screamed. It was still Ron Weasley who knocked it out, running into the bathroom at the right time, levitating the club onto its head.

But when Hermione tried to make an excuse, Ara clamped a hand over her mouth. "Granger was alone, and I came to talk to her," she explained to an irate McGonagall. "We didn't know."

The next day, Granger caught up to her when she was walking to charms. "Thank you for coming to see me yesterday," she said nervously. "Why do you call me Granger?"

"It must be a Slytherin thing," Ara shrugged. "Will you partner with me in transfiguration later today, Hermione?"

Hermione's face brightened.

Quidditch lessons came and Ara pulled Malfoy's hand down when he made to reach for the Remembrall. "Don't give us a bad reputation Malfoy," she muttered as Madam Hooch took Neville to the hospital wing.

"We already have one, Potter."

She visited Hagrid, but when the baby dragon's egg hatched, Malfoy didn't tip off any professors. Instead, he watched from afar as Charlie Weasley collected it, and silently went back to his dorms.

Slytherins didn’t tell on each other.

She still received the cloak, but she wasn't alone during Christmas. A brown-haired boy by the name of Theo Nott from her year had also stayed back. They spoke to each other in front of the fire that night, and so Ara felt no urge to go out and explore at night.

She liked Theo; he was smart and kind, and she felt an instant kinship to him when he confessed that his relatives were why he didn't want to go home.

So when the end of the year came, it was Hermione and Theo who accompanied her to the trapdoor. They caught the keys, beat the chessboard, and this time there was no hesitation when Professor Quirrell burned under her hands. Voldemort had killed her parents. She would make him _pay._

When she woke up in the infirmary, it was still to cards and well-wishers. And this time, Slytherin won the house cup. It was the first time she had seen Malfoy smile.

At the station, Narcissa Malfoy approached her. "I too, am a daughter of the Blacks," she said without preamble. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

She nodded, and two minutes later she was being hugged tightly by her cousin.

**Second-year**

Dudley was tying running shoes when she came downstairs the next morning.

"Apparently I need to lose weight," he said by way of explanation. "So I have a running route that I need to follow, and exercises to do after that."

"Oh, she said. "Mind if I join you?"

"Are you sure you can keep up?"

Ara stuck her tongue out at him. "Let me get my shoes and we'll see."

The house-elf didn't visit her in the middle of their dinner, because she was sitting at the table with the Dursleys, in her nicest clothes. She was polite and smiled prettily, instantly placing herself in the Mason's good books. If there was anything that Slytherin had taught her, it was about using any means necessary to get what you wanted.

A month into the holidays, she and Ginny had decided to meet. Ron and the twins came with her, and she took them around muggle London. In return, they took her to the Burrow the week after.

"I guess you're not too bad, for a Slytherin," Ron said to her during a game of quidditch.

"Neither are you," Ara shot back with a grin and a quaffle tossed over his shoulder. "For a Gryffindor."

The barrier was still sealed shut when they tried to enter, this time with Ginny tagging along. But when Ron Weasley tried to suggest taking the car, Ara rolled her eyes.

"And get points taken off of us before we even enter the castle?" she snarked, searching through her pockets for a quill. She dragged them behind a pillar and sent off a note to one of the professors, and one to Hermione to let the people on the train know what had happened.

"The barrier closed when we tried to enter," she explained to Professor Snape a few minutes later.

He nodded at them, looking confused but holding an empty photo frame in his hands. "This is a portkey. It will activate in five minutes and deposit you in front of the gates, where I will be waiting. Miss. Potter, I trust that you will make sure that you and your peers get there safely?"

"Yes, Professor," she said. When the five minutes were up, they were whisked away from the station and were admitted into the Hogwarts grounds. They spent the next hours on the grounds, chasing each other around and taking turns on Ara's Nimbus 2000 that she had bought in Diagon.

Ginny Weasley couldn't help but admire her. Not just because she was the girl-who-lived, but because of the way she acted. She was polite and kind, but ruthless at the same time. She was smart and athletic and appreciated Ginny's family. She was different from the stories that portrayed her as a noble, self-sacrificing heroine. She was a role model.

And so when the sorting hat was placed on Ginny's head, all it saw was determination. She would be different. "SLYTHERIN," it shouted out, and Aralynn Potter, who was making a name for herself in Slytherin with her defense work and ruthlessness, was the first to clap.

Ara remembered how it felt to fly with the Weasleys at the burrow and joined the quidditch tryouts. She easily took the spot of the seeker and was only mildly annoyed when she found out that Malfoy was a chaser.

When the chamber was opened and fingers were pointed at Ara, it was Ron who shut them down. "She's best friends with Hermione," he pointed out. And when the language of the snakes slipped past her lips and fingers pointed again, it was Daphne who spoke up.

"Look at her," she said when everyone fell silent. "She doesn't even know what's happening."

"She's probably acting," a Ravenclaw called out. "She is a bloody Slytherin after all,"

Susan Bones stomped on his foot. "Slytherin or not, anyone with eyes can see that she was calling it away from Justin."

Ara had helped Susan with a herbology assignment twice last year. Slytherins weren't the only ones who repaid favours.

Ginny still had the diary, but rather than tales of loneliness, it was stories of her friends and family that came up. Tales about her role model and best friend, and Luna's creatures and Ron's chess games. It was about Hermione's study schedule that made Ginny feel all warm inside (she had friends who cared about how she did in school) and Pansy showing her to class. It was the Carrow twins confessing that they didn't want to follow in their guardian's footsteps at midnight in the dormitories, and looking over muggle cameras with Colin.

Ara and Theo met Luna Lovegood that Christmas while walking one night.

"You have nargles," the younger girl said.

"Brilliant," Ara said. "what are they?"

Theo thought she was weird, but Ara loved her.

"I was born male," Luna confessed one night near the lake. Ara had snuck out, unable to sleep because she was thinking of the beast in the chamber. Luna had found her, and they had both sat down near the lake.

"Oh," Ara said softly. "I'm happy that you're who you are, Luna."

And when Hermione was petrified and Ginny was taken, it was Malfoy who cornered Ara in the library. "Check Granger's hand," was all he said. "That's where you'll find the answers."

"Malfoy," she called out as he was leaving. "How come you're helping?"

"Weasley is one of us," he answered over his shoulder. "Slytherins protect their own."

It was an emerald encrusted Dagger that she pulled out of the hat, rather than the Sword of Gryffindor. Godric wasn't the only one with a weapon.

**Third-year**

"You fought a snake?" Dudley asked as they went on their morning run in early July.

"A giant one," Ara grinned.

Sirius Black's face appeared on telly one day as Ara shelled peas in the living room. Dudley was doing his Summer reading, and Aunt Petunia was looking through a magazine.

"That man was at your parent's wedding," Aunt Petunia said snidely when they showed the black-haired man on the screen, weary and sunken in appearance.

"I know," Ara whispered. "He's my godfather."

Both of them looked at her in alarm. "Yeah," she said bitterly. "He's the reason my parents are dead."

Dudley leaned back on the sofa. "If he ever comes near us," (Ara' heart warmed at _us._ ) "I'll try out my new boxing moves on him."

Ara could see Aunt Petunia hiding a frown behind her magazine.

"You have _got_ to teach me those," she said to him when Aunt Petunia was out of hearing range.

Three days later, Ara paid the boxing gym some money she had converted from her trust vault, walking next to Dudley as they entered his class. Now that there was _another_ madman after her, she would be damned if she couldn't defend herself with her fists.

"I doubt you'll need them," Dudley said as they circled each other. "I'm surprised John recovered from your attack,"

"That was _years_ ago, Dud."

_"Exactly."_

When her birthday was nearing, their friends in the neighbourhood surprised her with a cake that they had made. She was Aralynn Potter, defeater of the dark lord and Slayer of the Basilisk. She _did not cry._

They sat on a blanket in the park, and though she saw a black dog a few feet away from him, she didn't think too much of it.

"Wizards have a house of Lords," she said out of nowhere when she and Dudley were walking home. She knew her aunt had tried to convince Dudley to stop hanging out with her, but he just brushed her off.

Dudley looked at her incredulously. "Knowing the weird shite that you get yourself into," he said, "You're probably part of them."

"I am," she agreed. "But not through my Dad. The Potters are rich, but we've intermarried with people of-" she made quotes with her fingers, " 'Impure blood' too many times for us to be considered nobility."

" _Ohmygod,_ " Dudley said in a rush. "That man on the telly, your godfather."

Dudley was smarter than people gave him credit for. "Yepp. Apparently, there's a godfather's ritual, which makes me his heir by blood and magic if he never has any kids of his own."

"Bloody hell," Dudley said. They sat on a bench near their house, close enough that they were encased by the wards, but not so far the someone in their house could hear them.

_"I know_ ," she said. "In a few days, I'll officially be Heiress Aralynn Lily Potter-Black."

_"Bloody Hell,"_ Dudley repeated.

They didn't see the black dog listening in from a few feet away.

When Aunt Marge came over for a week, Ara stayed with the Weasleys. She played Quidditch with Ginny, chess with Ron, and pranked the twins. She spoke to Percy about studies, Bill about Runes, and asked Charlie about Norberta. It was a happy week of food and learning, and lazy days spent sprawled under the sun.

When she returned home, she got her Hogsmeade form signed on Dudley's insistence.

When the letters came, she took Dudley with her to Diagon alley on the knight bus that Tracy had told her about. He was just as amazed by the colour and life as she had been her first time there.

He waited outside Gringotts for her, and when she came out (Heiress' ring on her right ring finger and pockets full of galleons), he bowed deeply, garnering them a few strange looks from people walking past.

"Your highness," he said in a high pitched voice. She smacked him on the arm.

"Ice cream?"

"Yes please."

Ara and her friends still did sit in a compartment with professor R. J. Lupin. It was Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Luna who piled into the last compartment they could find, Ara closing the door behind them.

"So guys," she said nervously once they were all seated. "I went to Gringotts last month, and I uh, did a thing."

Ginny stared at her impassively. "Define a thing."

Ara held her hand up sheepishly and willed her ring to become visible. "So you know how Sirius Black was friends with my parents? He's also my godfather, which makes me his heir by magic."

Ron sighed. "I'm not even surprised at this point."

Luna held up a thin silver chain. "You can hook it around this so you don't have to use magic to keep it hidden."

Ara took the thread and Hermione secured it around her neck. "Never a boring day with you Ara." she murmured as the train took off.

Ginny laughed. "You should see her in the common room if you think this is her being interesting. She owled eight of the twelve school governors and bullied Dumbledore into adding a gender-neutral dorm to all the houses."

"I think I may move into them," Luna whispered, looking down at her hands. Ara moved so that her head was on Luna's shoulder. Other than Ron, Luna was the tallest of them in the carriage. "That's great," Ara said softly. "Terry Boot from Ravenclaw said that they were moving into them too, so you'll have company."

A few hours later, after they had all eaten and spent a few hours playing random games, the dementors still came. She heard a woman scream, and she still fell to the ground. The Patronus still chased them away. That didn't change.

But when she went to the great hall thirty minutes later, there wasn't a blond boy waiting to mock her. Here, it was a simple, "Alright, Potter?" from him, and a crushing hug from Theo, who she hadn't seen since June.

Ara didn't mind Neville Longbottom. He was sweet enough and his grandmother was a force to be reckoned with, but he seemed to cower from everything. She had spoken to him a few times, and she felt a little bad for how he was treated, but she didn't want to be partnered with him in potions.

She looked over the room, and everyone but Malfoy and Hermione was partnered up. As the best students in the class, they were allowed to work alone. She had just gotten up to get her's and Neville's ingredients when Malfoy spoke up.

"Professor," he called out. "I can't cut my ingredients or skin my shrivelfig until my arm heals." Ara barely refrained from scoffing. Malfoy's arm had been slashed by a hippogriff, but everyone knew it was healed by now.

"Vey well Mr. Malfoy. Miss. Potter," Snape said reluctantly. "Help Malfoy. Granger, you're with Longbottom."

"Didn't know you had a heart Malfoy," she said quietly as she cut the ingredients into even little cubes. Aunt Petunia's cooking lessons had been good for something after all.

"Shut up Potter," he muttered, but Ara could see a smile tugging at his lips. "I didn't want you to lose points for us. You're writing my Ancient Runes essay this week though,"

"Sure, Malfoy." she laughed. She knew how favours worked in Slytherin. She had established herself as the head of her year a few months ago after all.

Slytherin had an unofficial head for each year, who reported to the teachers or was reported to by the students any time there was a problem. As a third-year, she was also the unofficial head of the juniors, the name given to the Slytherins from years one to three.

Their year had unanimously voted for Ara as their head.

"I may be influential," Malfoy had admitted. "But you're a leader."

"Someone write this down," Ara had gasped. "Draco Malfoy complimented me."

"Shut up, Potter."

Sirius Black broke into Gryffindor on Halloween.

"One calm Halloween," Ara groaned to Ginny as they ran the grounds together in the morning. It was a habit that Ara had carried from her run's with Dudley, and Ginny was happy to accompany her. "That's all I ask for."

"And I'm not even a Gryffindor-" Ara had added a few seconds later.

"Anyone who's anyone knows you're a Slytherin," Ginny had reassured. "Now let's get to Quidditch practice or Pucey will _eviscerate_ us."

Ara didn't tell Professor Lupin that she knew he was friends with her parents. She had seen him in the wedding photos, one of her father's arms slung around the Professor and her godfather each. If he had wanted to contact her by now, he would have.

When he offered to teach her to cast a Patronus after the disastrous match, however, she agreed.

He expected it to be a stag, or a doe to symbolize her parents. Aralynn Potter may have had her father's eyes and her mother's hair, but she was her own person, and she made sure everyone knew that. Her parents hadn't raised her. While she loved the memory of them dearly, she didn't let anyone compare her to them.

So when the silvery Patronus slipped out of her wand, it was a wolf's shape that it took.

"It fits you," Daphne said later in the common room. Ara had cast her Patronus again, and the wolf ran around them in lazy circles. "Guardianship, loyalty, and intuition. I couldn't think of a more fitting form."

A lot of things didn't change in this version. The map, for one.

"A little birdie told us that you're the head of the juniors," Fred whispered one day after Ancient Runes.

"How do you even know about-"

"This might come in handy-" and the daughter of the marauders was given a piece of her legacy.

When June came, not much changed. But Blaise Zabini came with them as they saw Buckbeak's execution and Sirius' transformation. He was Theo's best friend, and that made him one of Ara's friends by extension. The fact that he loved all creatures also helped.

Ron still stepped up. "If you want to get her," he growled to Sirius Black, "You'll have to get through us." His leg was still broken, and it was Blaise's wand that pressed against Sirius' throat.

"When seven of your stepfathers have mysteriously disappeared," he warned. "You learn a few tips."

When Lupin came in, they all knew he was a werewolf. Hermione had tracked his absences and Malfoy had quietly confirmed their suspicions in the common room. When Snape followed Professor Lupin, Ara wasn't surprised. Slytherins protected their own.

But then Pettigrew was revealed, and Ara wanted to _hurt_ him _so badly_. For more than just betraying her parents. He had slept with Ron for so long and Ara didn't trust him at all.

So she stunned him and conjured ropes to bind him to the wall of the shack. "So the little rat doesn't transform," she spat. And then to Sirius- "If your story doesn’t check out, I'll kill you with my bare hands."

"How plebian," Blaise drawled, but his wand was still pressed against Sirius' collarbone. "Use the knife in your boot instead."

But then Professor Lupin transformed, and the dementors came. Ara saw the wolf chase them away, and knew that she would get there somehow. She held no delusions of her parents coming to save her. She would have to do it herself, like every other time she was in danger.

Blaise joined them in their little time-adventure.

"Meddlesome old coot," Ara muttered as they turned through time. There was no hesitation as she cast her Patronus. She thought of her cousin defending her, and her friends protecting her, and the guardian chased all of the dementors away.

She helped Sirius escape but wasn't nearly as eager to jump to live with him. "My brother said he would practice his boxing moves on you if you ever hurt me," she said as he mounted Buckbeak. "I'm sure he's gotten better since I last saw him."

"You're my heir, Aralynn. I don't think I could hurt you if I wanted to."

"Still."

"Keep in touch," she told Professor Lupin as they left that year. "Now that we have proof of Pettigrew in custody, we should be able to clear his name. Daphne said she'll send me a book about legal procedure, and I can raise a motion in the wizengamot now that I'm his heir."

"His _what_?"

Aralynn pulled out the black heir's ring from where it had been hanging around her neck. "I claimed it a year ago. I'll make it public once his name is cleared."

"Merlin, you really are a force to be reckoned with, aren't you?"

She grinned at him cheekily, "Oh, Moony. You have no idea."

"How did you-"

"Have a nice summer."

**Fourth-year**

"I see a common theme in your school years," Dudley said one day at the boxing gym. Sirius had been cleared the week earlier, and he had spent the last five days in St. Mungos. "Your headmaster being a meddling old fool."

"You aren’t wrong," Ara admitted as they circled each other. "He seems to think that I'm straying to the dark side. He's desperate to have me on his."

"Are you?" he asked. "Straying to the dark side, I mean."

"I consider myself in the grey category. I'll use any means necessary to get what I want, but I won't hurt anyone if I can help it."

She cast a cutting curse at the stomach of a death Eater in the Quidditch world cup. She saw him reaching for Ginny and didn't feel any regret as he fell bleeding to the ground.

When her name came out of the goblet, she had a whole house backing her. Her house knew her and knew that she would never have entered on purpose. Of course, some people doubted her honesty. But they were Slytherins, and no matter what happened, they supported each other until the very end.

And young Ronald Weasley believed her this time. As a female Slytherin, Ron had never felt insecure while being friends with her. They were _so_ different that it didn't even cross Ron's mind that she would cheat to enter. And if he was rude about her being a part of it, Ginny would knock some sense into him.

So they practiced spells and used the rumor mill to blackmail other students into being less vocal about Ara being a 'cheat'.

She was just as excellent as a flier in this version. But when she entered the first task, she bowed down to the dragon and spoke the language of the snakes.

_"My lady,"_ she hissed, and barely resister grinning as she heard scandalized gasps from the crowd. _"There is a fake among your eggs, one that I must take to protect your little ones."_

She heard a few cheers from her godfather in the crowd.

A few more sentences about why she was there and the Hungarian Horntail lifted the golden egg in her mouth and handed it to Ara. She gently put her hand over her warm snout. _"Thank you, My Lady."_

She received a low score from Dumbledore, but the excellent scores from the other judges and the constipated look on her headmaster's made it _absolutely_ worth it.

When the Yule Ball rolled around, Ara had no idea who to ask.

Malfoy was going with Pansy, Hermione was going with Krum, and Ron was taking Luna as a friend as a favor to Ginny. The boys and girls in her year had all paired off, deciding to go together as friends, even though as a champion, Ara was the only one who actually needed a date.

"Why don't you just ask a girl?" Fleur asked her as they walked the grounds.

They had bonded after the first task over being underestimated as females. Ara still stuck to her policy of women supporting each other instead of tearing each other down.

"I can do that?" Ara asked.

Fleur scoffed. "Silly girl. Of course, you can."

When she went back to the common room an hour later, she asked her friend. "Ginny," she said. "Will you go with me to the ball? I know you were planning to sneak in but I really need a date and-"

"Shut up, Potter," she smacked her arm lightly. "Of course I will. We'll be the most gorgeous couple there."

Ara smiled in relief.

Ara sat near one of the tables, watching as Ron danced with his sister. Ara loved dancing, but her feet were tired and aching. All the training for the tournament often left her sore and she could feel the ache as she sipped her juice at a table. Blaise had spiked it with firewhisky and she relished the burn she felt as she swallowed it.

"All right Potter?" Malfoy stood in front of her, blond eyebrows furrowed in what was almost concern. They weren't exactly friends, but he had taught her some spells for the tournament, and Ara had exchanged a few letters with his mother.

She nodded, and he held a hand out to her. "We aren't exactly friends but we need to put out an image of cooperation. May I have this dance?"

She didn't want to, but he had a point. Besides, Malfoy was an excellent dancer.

She put her hand in is, and he pulled her to the dance floor, arms surprisingly strong against her waist.

"Pansy ditched you then?" she asked him as the song started.

He scoffed. "We came together for the image," he jutted his chin to the side, where Pansy was dancing with a Slytherin girl the year above them. "I'm not her type."

Ara raised an eyebrow.

"Male, Potter. She bats for her own team. Honestly, you live together, how did you not notice? I mean, I knew you were thick but to not notice this…" he trailed off.

Ara smiled lightly. "Even if she does, how is it any of my business. Not all of us are nosy little twats like you, Malfoy."

They were exchanging jibes at each other, but their faces were polite and friendly as if they were talking about the weather.

He raised an eyebrow back at her. "I thought you were gay too," he said. "You brought Weasley with you after all."

"I'm still figuring it all out," she muttered as they bowed to each other. He held a hand out and she put hers in it, slightly stunned when he pressed a cool kiss to her knuckles.

"Thank you for the dance, Heiress Black," he said formally, disappearing through the crowd.

Later, as she danced with Ginny one last time, his words of ''I thought you were gay too." rang in her head and she went to the one person she knew would have answers.

And when she and Hermione sat near the lake, Hermione spoke, thumbing through a book about wizard sexuality. "Are you gay though? Nothing changes between us if you are." She looked up at Hermione who was seated next to her, their shoulders pressed together.

She thought of Ginny's freckles and Pansy's smile and the warmth it caused in her stomach. "I think so," she said.

But then she thought of Malfoy's cool lips against her knuckles and the way Blaise's shirt hiked up when he reached up and the way Theo's forearms flexed when he turned the pages of a book.

"Mostly gay," she said.

"Okay," Hermione said. "There's a word for that. Bisexual."

"Mostly Gay has a nice ring to it," Ara said, leaning her elbows back on the grass.

"Whatever you say, Ara."

Two weeks later when she returned from the friendly match that the older Slytherins had held for the houses, sweaty and wet from the rain, Pansy was the only one waiting in the dorm room. She was standing in front of the mirror, applying eyeliner carefully, wearing nothing but a tank top and her school skirt. Ara pointedly looked in the opposite direction as she removed the quidditch gear she had on, Malfoy's words from the ball ringing in her ear.

"So Ara," Pansy said. Ara heard the little click that implied that Pansy was done with her eyeliner. "Rumour has it that you bat for the same team that I do?" Ara didn't even ask how Pansy knew that. If anything happened in the castle, Pansy knew about it.

"What of it, Pansy?" she muttered, freeing her hair from the tight braid that it had been in. She loved her dormmate, but when Pansy wanted to know something, she usually found a way to.

When she spoke next, she could hear Pansy right behind her. "So you are gay then?"

Ara turned around, hair still damp but in the tight skins she wore under her gear. "Mostly," she said, but Pansy's eyes were on her lips.

"This isn't a romantic thing, but I'm curious and I need to be sure-" Pansy cut herself off.

Ara had never seen Pansy look nervous before. She was starting to grow into her features nicely, and Ara would be lying if she said that she hadn't noticed her slim figure and pale features. "Can I?" she asked.

Pansy reached up and stood on her tiptoes, and Ara closed her eyes as she felt cool lips against her own.

Ara put her hands around Pansy's waist, maneuvering them so that Pansy could stand more comfortably, as they pressed together, again and again, skin against skin and the fumbling curiosity of the inexperienced.

Ara felt hot, warmth coiling in her stomach and hands reaching out for each other.

They heard voices outside the door and Pansy pulled back, lips swollen and pupils slightly blown out. Ara felt the same way, and she could tell that her hair was even more messed up than it had been earlier.

"I see two options," Pansy said as they heard voices outside the door. "We continue this later, or we move to your bed and ward the curtains." She looked unsure but Ara had never felt this way before, and she gently pulled Pansy to the bed. And this time they were lying down, kissing slightly more urgently as Pansy pushed her jersey off her shoulders and Ara ran her hands through Pansy's short hair.

Half an hour later, they lay next to each other in their underclothes. "I've never done that before," Pansy admitted quietly.

"Neither have I," Ara said back. "But I'm curious too, and wouldn't mind doing it again." They grinned at each other.

A week later when she went to the boy's dorm to collect a book from Theo, she found Theo entangled with Blaise in a way similar to the way she and Pansy had been earlier.

"Ara," Theo gasped. "It's not what you think-"

Ara shushed them.

"I don't care who you fuck-" she paused, looking over them, "Or get fucked by, as long as you do it safely. Besides," she smiled. "It would be a bit hypocritical of me to judge you for being gay, wouldn't it?"

They were still gaping at her when she dragged them up to the library to look up protection charms.

She flipped Voldemort off as the portkey took her back to Hogwarts. She was shaking from the cruciatus curse, clutching Cedric's still-warm corpse, and bleeding from at least six different cuts all over her body. But she couldn't resist.

She itched to do the same to the minster when he didn't believe her, but Sirius was shaking with barely concealed rage next to her, and she had had enough drama for one night. She wanted a dreamless sleep potion and at least twelve hours of sleep.

A few days later, when Ara's nightmares were haunted with the ashen face of Cedric and the serpentine one of Tom, she and Pansy spoke. "This has been fun," Pansy said. "But I think I like someone."

Ara hummed. "Who is it?"

Pansy whispered the name of a Beauxbeatons student Ara didn't know. "We'll see how to set you guys up then," Ara said. Pansy smiled.

They were friends first, always had been.

When she returned to the Dursleys, she and Dudley leaned together on the fence next to the park as she told him the story of her year.

"Jesus," he said. "Trouble keeps finding you, huh?" 

They stood side by side for a few seconds before she spoke up. "I had sex with a girl this year," she said.

"Interesting," was all Dudley said, and Ara was relieved even though she knew he wouldn't care. "So you're gay then?"

"Mostly."

When the Dementors came, he listened to her when she told him to run. But when he ran, it was to Mrs. Figg's to get her to call someone to help. Ara wasn't stupid, she could tell when a house was Magical, and Mrs. Figg's definitely was. 


	2. chapter 2

**FIFTH YEAR**

"Dumbledore must be off his rocker," Ara said incredulously as she stared at her Hogwarts letter in Grimmauld Place. "Me? A prefect? He must be desperate to get me to publicly voice support for him." Ron, who was staring at his badge with an equally surprised look, nodded at her.

"Merlin, you two." Hermione sighed. She looked up at Ron and Ara. "Both of you will make excellent prefects."

Mrs. Weasley threw a party for them, and the three prefects all tilted their heads together and smiled. Hermione stood in the middle of her two best friends, Ron's pale skin standing out from Ara and Hermione's darker skin tones.

"I hate being this short," Hermione grumbled after the photo was taken.

Ara laughed. "You're not short, Mione. Ron and I are just tall." And it was true. Ara had grown taller than Sirius and was only a few inches shorter than Ron and Blaise. She made a point of Ruffling her godfather's hair every time she saw him, just to annoy him.

"I didn't make prefect," Nymphadora Tonks said to Ara at the party. "Apparently, I lacked the ability to behave myself."

Ara laughed. "I spend half my nights sneaking around the castle," she said. "Merlin knows why old Dumbles chose me."

"It's to get you under his control," Sirius said, swinging an arm around her shoulders. "But everyone knows that you can't put a leash on Blacks." He winked at them.

She only moved to Grimmauld for the last week of summer, choosing to stay with her cousin (her brother, really,) rather than be cooped up in Grimmauld place with nowhere to go. She even refused Dumbledore when he came to testify for her in the wizengamot.

Instead, Sirius took her, and she swore an oath that she wasn't lying in front of all the members. The look of anger on Fudge's face made him look rather comical, and she voiced as much when Sirius took her back. "Like a tomato about to explode," he agreed.

They were walking around Muggle London, Sirius directing them to a shop that he knew.

"You've officially almost gone to prison," he declared. "We need you to complete the image."

She bought a leather jacket identical to his and wore it to the concert that they snuck out to watch on August 30th. They looked like father and daughter, with messy black hair and high cheekbones. (The fact that both of them were dressed in leather jackets and boots didn't help either.) Ara kept the photo of both of them at the concert in her trunk, positioning it so that she could see it every time she opened it.

"I've got to go to the prefect's compartment," she said apologetically to Ginny and Luna. Ron and Hermione had left a few minutes ago, but Ara was reluctant to leave.

Ginny's lips tilted up in amusement. "Good luck. Malfoy's the other prefect."

Ara sighed. It was futile for her to have hoped for any different.

The meeting went smoothly, with the head students handing out a form for each house's prefects to fill out for prefect rounds and such. She took the ones for her year. "I'll speak to the head of the Juniors," she told the sixth and seventh year Slytherin prefects. "It's Astoria, so we should be able to work out an effective system."

She looked at the door of the compartment that the six Slytherin prefects had entered after the meeting, hesitating only for a second before casting a silencing charm and a charm to make the doors opaque at it.

"We all know that Voldemort-" there were a few flinches, "Is back."

Malfoy stiffened.

"Yes, Malfoy, I know that he's in Malfoy Manor."

He clenched his jaw. "Your point, Potter?"

"Right," she said. "There's no use pretending that he isn't. Allegiances aside, we _must_ work together to protect our house. We are the most at risk, and the most likely to be blamed if something goes south. I want a list of all the students at risk, and _I_ will be the one to give all the welcoming speeches in the common room."

The rest of them nodded. It would be futile to oppose her. They all knew she held the power in their house.

"Malfoy," she added. "I'll need you to back me. We lead the first years to the common room, and _you do not leave my side,_ is that understood? We put up a united front no matter what."

He nodded grudgingly. "We keep them safe at all costs."

"Agreed," she said. She looked at the rest of the prefects. "I want you all standing right behind me as I speak. The portraits in our living areas are filled with snakes," she warned. "I know everything that happens. Be careful, and keep them safe. We'll talk more in the commons, after the speech tonight." She unlocked the door and left, only sagging tiredly once she entered her friends' compartment.

"Was it that tiring?" Hermione asked worriedly. Ara flopped onto a seat.

"You have no idea." she groaned. "We're the most at risk, and I need to keep everyone safe."

After the sorting and dinner, she and Malfoy stood up. Ara signaled to the other prefects, and they started nudging at the older students to stand up too, calling out for the first years to follow them. After looking at the toad of a woman that Fudge had sent over, she had, even more, to say to her house. She led them to the dungeons, and gently prodded at Malfoy when they reached the entrance of their common room.

They turned towards the students. "The password is Argent," Malfoy told them. The door opened, and the two of them lead the students in. Once all of them were inside and the doors were closed, Ara made her way to the front of the common room.

"Slytherins," she said. "Assemble in the order of year groups, ascending order, please." The older year groups started to move on her command, and the other students scrambled into place.

"Welcome to Slytherin," she greeted. "I request that all of you stay silent until I am done speaking. The information that I will convey to you is of the utmost importance."

The crowd quietened, and Ara felt Malfoy silently stand beside her. She waited for a second until the rest of the prefects were gathered around her.

"My name is Aralynn Potter-Black. I am your fifth-year prefect, and this is Draco Malfoy, my counterpart. The two of us and the rest of your prefects are the ones to report to if you're having any problems. If you are in the first-third year group, you will report to Astoria Greengrass, the leader of the Junior sector. Astoria, will you raise your hand so that they know who you are?" Astoria raised a hand, and Ara could see Daphne looking proudly at her from a few feet away.

"Slytherin is the house most looked down upon," she continued. "We are the house of the ambitious, ruthless, and powerful. We stop at nothing to achieve our goals. That being said, we aren't perfect. We come from different families and types of people. That is why you must listen carefully to everything I say. As Slytherins, we are not just looked down on. We are attacked in corridors and not given points for our achievements. So remember these next few lines. Slytherins protect their own. You will travel in groups of at least three people. Slytherins do not turn each other in. In the event that there is an issue to deal with, you will report to the prefects, and we will convey as such to our head of house. Slytherins keep all fights within our walls. We present a united front at all costs."

She paused and looked over them all. "War is coming. It is our priority as prefects to protect all of you. If any of you find yourselves being targeted, in or out of school, report to one of us and we will make arrangements for all of you. You will not utter a single slur against anyone, no matter what their blood allegiance may be. Rest be assured that I will know if you break any of these rules. We protect each other. We are the Noble and Powerful House of Slytherin, and we will present as such. Cunning, intelligent, and reserved."

She looked over their slightly nervous faces and smiled kindly at them. "That being said, we are still people. We love, we cry and we fall sometimes. You can always come to us for any issues you have, and we'll be here to help. If you find that you're grades are slipping, we'll have a tutoring timetable up by tomorrow morning. An upperclassman will walk the first years to their classes, and the third-years to their electives for the first few days. Students of the second year and up who are interested in Quidditch, give your names to Adrian Pucey, this year's captain." Adrian raised his hand. "The password changes every week and is up on the board next to the exit of the room. Let no one else enter the room. Boy's dorms are upstairs and to the left, girls to the right."

She saw a few students look nervous and added. "For anyone whose gender doesn't match their sex assigned at birth, you may stay in your preferred dormitory. For anyone non-binary, we have a gender-neutral dorm further down from the girl's dorms. We're here for you. First and second years may leave. Be in the common room by 7.30 am sharp."

She waited until the students left, and then addressed the remaining students. "I trust you all to uphold the dignity of our house and to protect the younger years. Delores Umbridge is clearly a ministry spy. I warn you all, no matter what she says or does in her class, you clench your jaw and keep quiet about it. Report to us instead. Third years have Mandatory sexual education this year. The timetable for those classes will be up soon. You are now eligible to tutor first years, so those interested can give your names to Astoria. Fourth years can tutor first and second, and interested students can give their names to Malfoy. Third and fourth year can leave."

She students shuffled off, a few of them shooting Ara a smile as they went. As soon as the last one had disappeared, Ara sat down tiredly on the chair nearest to her.

"All of you, sit down," she said. The fifth, sixth, and seventh years all sat down comfortably. "We all know what Umbridge is here for." they all nodded.

Ara scrubbed a hand over her face. "Listen, I don't give a fuck about yours or your family's allegiances. This is a school. As the upperclassmen, it is our duty to uphold the honor of our house and protect the younger years. If I hear a single slur against anyone for any reason, I'll give you detention for two months. You have all stood with me since I stepped foot into this school. We are family above all else. We're kids thrown in to fight in our parent's wars. Show the rest of the school a united front. I've assigned you all groups of students to lead to different activities and classes, the house-elves should have put the list on your bedside tables by tomorrow morning. Let me know if you have any issues. Good luck, and I'm here for you. You may leave."

As they stood up, Ara called out to them. "And for merlin's sake, someone set a headache potion on my table."

There were a few titters of laughter as they left, and only the prefects were left. Ara pulled a sheaf of papers and a few quills from her pocket. "To the fireplace? It's more comfortable and we may be here for a while." They all looked tiredly at each other, sitting in a circle and drafting lists and reforms until the early hours of the morning. They may have had different family allegiances, but this was a school. They _would_ protect their own.

The next day, as all of them exited the dorms and went down to the hall for breakfast, _they all_ went together, showing their support for each other as a house. Ara lead them, standing at their head.

"Excellent, Potter." Snape praised quietly as he handed out schedules. "I want you, Draco, and Adrian in my rooms with a copy of all your lists an hour before dinner."

The first day of classes went by smoothly, and after hearing a few complaints about Umbridge, she told her year mates to spread the message- They would have a short house meeting that night after dinner.

Before dinner, she quietly met Malfoy and Adrian at the entrance of Professor Snape's quarters. "Malfoy, Adrian." she greeted. She looked at Malfoy as Adrian went in first, presumably to talk about the team strategies and formation.

"Malfoy," she said. "Our survival depends on us getting along. At all costs, we act friendly in front of people." and then, even quieter- "I know he's in your house. I know what it's like. I know your views have changed. But your father can't know that, can he?" Malfoy stiffened. "Hmm, that's what I thought. As the head prefects, we'll have to spend a lot of time together. Putting our pasts aside, I'm here if you need help. Allies?"

He grimaced. "It'll definitely be hard," he admitted. "But I'll have to agree with you. Allies."

They stood there silently for a few minutes until Adrian came out. The corridors were too risky of a place for them to talk in.

Adrian left the door slightly ajar when he exited.

"Tryouts are on Tuesday," he said. "Both of you are keeping your place right?" they nodded. "Brilliant," he said, "I already have a few names, and I would appreciate it if you both were there," he added and left, robes swishing behind him.

They entered Professor Snape's office. "Sit down, both of you," he said tiredly, much as Ara felt. "The three of us are perhaps the most at risk in the entire school these next few years."

Malfoy hesitantly nodded. "That's true."

"Exactly," Professor Snape said. "Please tell me you two know occlumency."

"Mother taught me," Malfoy said.

"Excellent," Professor Snape praised. "Even the Dark Lord couldn't get through Narcissa's shields if he wanted to. Potter?"

She held a hand up. "My ring prevents any entry into my mind." The black heir's ring prevented any intrusion into her mind.

"Good," he said, folding his hands on top of the table. "Now I won't lie to either of you, the situation doesn't look good for any of us. It is necessary that we all work together. I trust you both to place differences aside and work together."

They nodded.

"Professor," Ara said. "I do have one request." when he didn't say anything, she continued. "I want to learn Legilimancy."

"Malfoy, You're dismissed." Professor Snape said. "Potter, any instruction before he leaves?"

"Yes, actually," Ara said. "Malfoy, address the students after dinner, about what we discussed. I won't be there, so I'm trusting you to handle the students." She and the prefects had discussed over lunch that they would teach the students as per the previous year's defence curriculum, holding lessons for the entire year group once a week. That way, they could cover a year group for every day of the week.

Malfoy stood up. "I'll see you for our rounds after that."

After he left, Professor Snape spoke again. "I know why you want me to teach you."

She looked in front of her, carefully avoiding his eyes. "I need to learn all I can, and stay out of Dumbledore's reach."

"As someone who fell into it and can't get out, I will do everything in my power to keep the house safe," he promised. He pulled a thick book out of his desk. "This is a book on mind arts. I want you to read it. Lessons in your free period tomorrow."

"Thank you, Professor," she said. "I won't let you down." she paused. "You knew my parents, sir, didn't you?"

"I did," he agreed. "But you are far too different from them for me to compare you to them."

She smiled at him and put a photo face down on his desk. "I found this in an old photo album. Have a good night, professor."

It was only after she left that he picked it up. It was a picture of him and Lily, from when they were kids. A small note was attached to it, in Ara's handwriting.

_I know what happened. I know you were the one who told him. I know that if you had it your way, I would be dead and mum would be alive. I'm sure I can never forgive you for what you did to my family. But as comrades in war, I have trusted you with my mind. Don't let me down._

He reached for the firewhisky under his table and poured himself a generous glass.

A few weeks later, Hermione came to Ara with the idea for the defence club. Now that Ara had settled into her usual hectic schedule, she had handed over the tutoring to different students, and assigned students to teach defence. She added her own spells to the paper that the students signed, and Hermione distributed the galleons.

"It's a protean charm," her friend explained, flipping the coin over in her hands.

Ara pulled her into a one-armed hug. "You really are the brightest witch of your age," she said proudly. Ron nodded in agreement, the tips of his ears turning red as Hermione smiled at him.

Ginny was the only other Slytherin to accompany her to the DA meetings. Ara had made sure that the rest of her house learned what they needed, after all.

"Potter," Malfoy hissed one evening during prefect rounds the day before a DA meeting. "I know about your little club." Ara felt fear drop into her stomach but didn't stop walking, instead casting a wandless privacy charm that Snape had taught her.

"I'm quite sure that I don't know what you're talking about."

"Cut the bullshit," Malfoy stressed, and Ara looked up at him. She had never heard Malfoy swear before. "I'm here to offer you a deal. I keep quiet about your club and lead Umbridge away from it, and you tutor me in defense."

"Aren't you already learning the curriculum with the rest of our year?"

"War is coming," he echoed her words from the speech. "I need to know more."

Ara looked at him. She looked at his tired eyes and set jaw. "Edit my Arithmancy essays every week and I'll agree."

"Deal."

They shook on it, and Ara remembered how it felt to have those hands around her waist, lifting her up into the air.

And so the year went on. Ara continued to protect her housemates, brewing healing potions in the dead of the night to give to them when they were attacked in corridors, helping whip the Quidditch team into shape, teaching the other houses defence, and learning how to attack minds.

She tutored Malfoy, sorted out the problems of her younger housemates, and graded first-year potions essays as payback for Snape teaching her Legilimancy.

There were the good parts, though. There was catching the snitch in the quidditch matches, and studying in the library with her friends. There was gently steering Ron clear of Lavender, and Hermione's smile when she did it. (She could tell that Lavender and Parvati were meant to get together anyway.)

There was beating Malfoy in duelling and patrolling with him at night. He wasn't bad at all once you got to know him, Ara thought one day in January when Mr. Weasley had returned home from the hospital. Once he shed his pureblooded views, he was rather fun to hang out with.

He was definitely good looking, with his aristocratic features and silver eyes. She thought of the way her stomach fluttered when she held his hand to help him up after a duel, or when he smiled at her when he got a spell right. She had never seen him smile genuinely until she started teaching him.

He had even lead Umbridge off the seventh floor when she was searching for them during a DA meeting (it was Defence association in this version, Ara hated Dumbledore with every fiber of her being.), and Ara had slipped out, pretending to be on prefect rounds to 'bump' into them a few minutes later. Heat surged in her stomach when she thought of Malfoy lying on his back when she beat him at duelling, shirt pushed up his stomach, and hair fanned out beneath him like a silver halo.

"Fuck," she muttered, squeezing her eyes shut. She did not have a crush on Draco Malfoy, she did _not_ have a crush on Draco Malf-

"Everything alright Ara?" Daphne asked from where she was seated on the couches. Each common room in Slytherin had them, and Ara was draped on one. The rest of the girls were sitting around and chatting and doing their homework.

She pressed her face into the cushion. "No. Everything is terrible."

"What is it?" Pansy asked, from where she was editing Milli's transfiguration essay. Milli had moved into the boy's dorm a few weeks ago, but he still came to the girl's dorm to hang out with the girls.

"I have a crush," she mumbled. Tracy pulled her down so she was sitting on the floor with the rest of them. "Spill," she commanded.

The rest of the girls looked at her expectantly. Ara sighed. "It's Malfoy."

"Ah." Milli grimaced lightly. "He doesn't know you like guys too. I can hint at it in the dorms if you'd like."

Ara leaned her head back on the cushion, feeling her hair pressing into her neck. "He doesn't know," She said. "I don't know-"

"He probably likes you too," Daphne assured, tossing her long hair behind her shoulder. "How are we going about this?"

Ara furrowed her brows. "Going about what?"

The rest of them shared an exasperated look.

"Seducing him," Pansy said like it was obvious.

"-What?"

"You heard her," Daphne expressed. "You need to let him know how you feel. And get him wrapped around your finger like the queen that you are. So what we need, is a plan."

Ara smiled gratefully at them. "I'm bringing Ginny too. With her's and your combined knowledge about males…" she trailed off, looking coyly at Daphne as she stood up.

"Hey!" Daphne exclaimed. "I don't sleep around _that_ much."

The last thing Ara heard before she left was Pany scoff at an indignant Daphne.

She sat on the desk of the room she and Malfoy usually practiced in, butterflies in her stomach as she waited for Malfoy. Her dormmates had wanted her to dress up a little, but if Malfoy liked her for her, she would be her usual slightly messy self. She had threatened Blaise until he admitted to her, very reluctantly, that Malfoy did like her back, but he was ignoring it because he thought she was gay.

She was wearing her usual boots with her school uniform, school skirt only pushed up a _little_ to show some more leg as a compromise between her and her friends.

He walked in less than a minute later, turning around to ward the door like one of them usually did. He didn't freeze or say anything when he saw her, but she saw something shift in his posture. "You're early," was all he said.

"I am," she agreed. She ignored her heart beating wildly in her chest. "Any guesses why?"

"I-" he hesitantly walked a little closer, sitting on a desk about two feet in front of her. "I don't know."

"Hmm," she hummed, her nerves melting away a little. This was Malfoy, who she had known since he was a kid. She could do this. "Are you going to come closer or are you just going to sit there?"

He looked confused, but he came closer anyway. She hopped off the desk.

"Can we talk?" she asked.

"sure?" Malfoy looked a little nervous but he stood up anyway.

She sat on one of the desks, pulling her legs under her. Malfoy was still standing silently in front of her. On the desk, she was only an inch or two shorter than him.

"I blackmailed Blaise into telling me an interesting fact about you, Malfoy." She could see the tip of his ears reddening, and held up a hand to silence whatever he was starting to say. "Tell me, are you keeping quiet about it because you think I'm gay, or because of your family's allegiances?"

Malfoy shoved his hands into the pockets of his robes. "Aren't you gay though?" was all he said after about twenty seconds of silence.

There was her answer. "Mostly," she said softly. "Come closer, will you?"

He moved hesitantly forward, but there was no hesitation when Ara put a hand on his shoulder. She looked up at him. "Can I?"

He had barely nodded when Ara pulled him down and covered his lips with her own. He was unresponsive for a second, but then he kissed back just as hard, one arm curling around her waist to steady himself.

Malfoy pulled back. "So you do like me then?" he asked breathlessly.

Ara gave him a _look_. "I don't just go around kissing everyone." Malfoy smiled and leaned forward, kissing her lightly. "That's not what Pansy told me," her murmured against her jaw.

She poked him in the stomach. "Do you want to kiss me again or not?"

"Merlin, _yes_ ," he said, and this time she moved so her legs were on either side of Malfoy, moving one of her arms from his shirt to his neck and the short hairs at the base of his head. She threaded her fingers into his hair and pulled lightly, kissing him harder when his grip tightened on her waist.

She pulled him closer until she could wrap her legs around her waist. "Is this okay?" she asked against his lips.

"More than," he grinned, and moved down until he was standing so that they were pressed against each other a little more comfortably.

She tightened her legs and rolled her hips slightly. Daphne had taught her that little trick.

"Merlin, Potter." Malfoy groaned low in this throat. He kissed her again and again, light stubble brushing against her cheek, his hands on her hips.

He pulled away, looking slightly out of breath. His cheeks were flushed and his pupils were blown out. "I need a moment," he said, closing his eyes.

She laughed, the heat in her stomach slowly dissipating with every passing second. He opened his eyes. "It would help if you-" he gestured to her legs.

"Oops," she giggled, removing her legs from around his waist and tucking them back under her.

Malfoy sat down on the floor next to the table, leaning his head against the wall. "Merlin," he said again, "What the fuck just happened?"

Ara got down from the table and stood in front of him, thinking for a second before sitting opposite to him, leaning against the legs of the desk closest to her. She leaned back on her arms, still slightly surprised that her friend's plans worked.

"Are we going to talk about this?" Malfoy's voice broke her out of her contemplative state.

"You know we need to," she said softly. "War is coming."

"I know. I'm terrified for all of us."

"Assuming you want this to go forward," he nodded. "You need to have extremely strong occlumency barriers."

He looked slightly offended. "Of course I do. He stays in Malfoy Manor, Potter. My mother trained me, and she's the best occlumens I know."

She was silent for a few seconds. "We have to keep this behind closed doors. If word gets out to Tom-"

He cracked a smile at that. " _Of course_ , you call him Tom. Shall we meet under the guise of prefect meetings, then? Our dormmates should be able to keep their mouths closed."

"That should work." She paused. "I'm still kicking your ass in duelling though. Ten more minutes, and then we should start."

He scoffed. "I've been practicing, so don't get all cocky just yet."

"Loser pays for drinks the next time we smuggle them into the common room?"

"Deal."

The one night that she decided to take her ring off in June was the one that Tom had decided to send her a message. She woke up gasping on the day of her Astronomy exam, sheets tangled around her legs.

"Sexy dreams?" Tracy asked from where she was reading near the fire.

"Far from it," she answered, getting out of bed. She gestured at the fireplace. "Do you mind?"

Tracy waved a dismissive hand. Ara threw some floo powder into the fireplace. She and her dormmates had torn down the wards preventing floo calls and used it regularly to talk to their family.

"Grimmauld Place," she called out, kneeling in front of the fireplace. She really hoped that someone was awake to answer her call. It took a few seconds, but Sirius' face showed up, sleep mussed and tired.

"Merlin, Ara. It's three in the morning, is everything alright?"

Ara exhaled in relief at seeing him. He was safe. "I took my ring off, Sirius. He sent me a message. He said he had you in the ministry, and he would only spare you if I came over and handed myself over. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Tell me something that only Sirius would know."

"You once pushed me into the middle of a crowd of vapid teenage girls in a concert." he grimaced. "Does that clear it up?"

"It does," she said, relieved. "I'm going to get someone to tip off Dumbledore and Fudge that Aralynn Potter is in the ministry Atrium, and get them to go there. I'm thinking Tonks for the ministry and maybe one of my Gryffindor friends for Dumbledore?"

"Perfect." He praised. "I'll get Tonks to put me on the auror team there so it doesn't look like you're lying."

"Stay safe," she said, holding a hand up to cancel the connection. "Be ready in fifteen minutes."

Ara slipped on her ring and changed into more comfortable clothes, running a finger over the raised words over the back of her hand.

_I must obey my superiors._

Umbridge had given her that lovely gift when the one time she had stood up in her class, to defend a classmate of her's. She pulled on her boots, making sure to tuck a knife into the hidden compartment in them.

"Infiltrating the ministry?" Tracy asked like it was a completely normal thing to do at 3 AM. "Do you want me to wake the other girls up so that we can talk about it after?"

Ara laughed. "Let them sleep, but I'm calling a house meeting afterward. Tell Malfoy to gather the prefects before breakfast."

"I'm still not completely convinced that those weren't sexy dreams."

"Oh, shut up."

And when the newspapers were flooded with talk of Voldemort returning the next morning, she winked at Dumbledore while drinking her tea. The look on his face after would fuel many of her patronuses in the future.

"Can I use one of those pensieve thingies to see the look on his face too?" Dudley asked her in July.

"It's worth a try." She tilted her head back and waved her fingers around the smoke that wafted into their area from where a couple of older guys were smoking. Both of them hated the smell. She pushed a little bit of magic at it, forming it into the shape of a dragon.

"Show off," Dudley snarked. "I'm going to go get that takeout that we wanted."

"Extra naan for me please." Ara and Dudley had taken to spending a lot of time near the fence at the far edge of the park near their house. Ara had done some fiddling and gotten the wards to cover that area too so that no one could see them, and it was hidden from general view.

She stood there quietly after he left, thinking about how she hadn't gotten any letters from Draco or Theo since summer had started a month ago.

She was a little worried, but she knew that they were at risk so she didn't dwell on it for too long. She heard footsteps approaching and turned around, opening her mouth to tease Dudley for walking so loudly.

But when she turned around, it wasn't Dudley. It was a slightly older man with dark brown hair. Ara could tell that he was at least a _little_ drunk from the way he was walking.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing all alone?" he leered, and she scrunched her nose up in disgust. He was one of _those_ men then.

She walked a little further away, hoping that he would just walk away. Instead, he just walked closer, stumbling a little too close to her for comfort. "I asked you a question, little girl." He reached an arm out at her, grabbing blindly, and she only felt a spark of fear before grabbing that hand and twisting it behind his back painfully. She shoved him to the ground, pressing the heel of her boot against his back.

He gasped painfully, and she pulled his arm any tighter. "Stay the fuck away from me." she hissed, and released his arm. He scrambled up and nearly ran away just as Dudley was approaching.

"Ara," he said worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said reassuringly. "Even if I couldn't hold him off, I could defend myself with magic."

He set their takeout on the bench next to them. "Won't you get put on trial again, though?"

She waved a hand dismissively, pushing a strand of hair behind her ears as she rifled through the takeout. "Those spells aren't the only ones I can do without a wand. And I have my knife up my boot."

She waved a hand and a pile of leaves next to her caught fire. "I can do a couple more too."

Dudley laughed. "Freak," he said affectionately.

**SIXTH YEAR**

When Ara entered the compartment that she and her friends usually took, Malfoy and Theo were nowhere to be seen. She and Blaise scanned the train after they came back from Slughorn's meeting, Ginny at their heels.

Malfoy had turned down the prefect's position, and Dumbledore had given it to Blaise instead.

They found them at the end of the train, in the compartment that Ara had sat in on her very first journey to Hogwarts.

They were sitting on opposite seats, staring out the window. "You guys go in," Ginny said, a shiny Quidditch Captain's badge on her chest. "I'll scare away any kids who come this way."

Ara cracked a smile at that. Ginny was scary enough on her own, add a badge and green trimmed robes, and well- no junior would cross her.

Ara spelled the door open, easily taking down the notice-me-not and repelling spells on the door. Draco and Theo may have better grades than her, but her senses were more attuned to magic than theirs were.

Theo's neck snapped up to look at them, lips parting in surprise.

"Your spell work was shoddy, Malfoy," she said, but he didn't move. Ara could feel Blaise at her shoulder, his steady presence calming her. "Now why the fuck are you avoiding us?"

They didn't say anything.

"Theo," Blaise murmured. He was always the calmer of the four of them. "You know you can tell us anything."

Theo just clenched his jaw, hands shaking slightly as he ran one through his hair.

"Draco," Ara said, softer this time. "Is everything alright?"

He stood up abruptly, and Ara took in his trembling shoulders and dark circles.

"Leave," was all he said.

Ara stood up straighter, only tilting her head slightly to look him in the eye. Thank fuck for growth spurts. "I'm the head of our year," Ara said. "If there's anything wrong, you know you should tell me-"

He cur her off, unbuttoning the cuff of his sleeves. "You want to know what's wrong?" He snarled. She felt dread pool in her stomach. He rolled his sleeves up, a motion she had seen him make so many times. On the previously blank skin of his arm, was the Dark Mark. Alive and throbbing, a blemish on his smooth skin.

Ara felt Blaise freeze behind her. 

"Theo," he whispered.

"I think it's best if we don't associate with each other," Draco said.

Ara reached out to touch his arm but he withdrew it as soon as she came close. "We can help you Draco."

He shook his head. "Leave," he repeated.

Ara slowly walked backward, closing the door in front of her and reapplying the wards with a distracted wave of her hand. Ginny looked at them questioningly but Ara shook her head mutely, dragging both of them to the next empty compartment. She sat down on its floor.

"They've been marked," she said softly. Ginny gasped lightly. She reached out and grabbed both of them on the arm. "Hey, look at me." they did. "We're going to get through this."

The rest of the year had been exhausting. It was Blaise who stood by her side as she gave her speech in the commons. It was more serious this year, and Ara knew that her house was more at risk than ever.

When she went down to Professor Snape's quarter, he looked ashen.

"I can't be seen with you anymore, Miss. Potter. If there is any message that you need to send me, attach it to your essays."

"Woah," Ara stared at the bottle of Felix Felices in Ron's hand. She glanced down at the worn textbook in front of him, and at the spidery handwriting that she recognized immediately from her lessons with Snape. _Muffliato_ was written in the margin, and she quirked an eyebrow at Ron. She had taught him the spell when they were on patrol together last year, to talk about the twins leaving school soon.

He flushed, turning his gaze to the tiny bottle in his hand and pushing into his pocket.

Ara had pointedly been ignoring the smell of Amortentia coming from the other side of the room. She could smell summer days spent with her cousin, and books for libraries where she sat with Ron and Hermione. She could smell the perfume that Pansy had gotten all of their dormmates for Christmas the previous year. They all wore the scent often enough that their dorm pretty much smelt like it all the time.

She could smell the sweet smell of daisies that Luna had taken to wearing behind their ears, that Ginny had been roped into when Luna had been bullied for it.

She could smell broomstick polish, treacle tart, and apple pie, the last one which she resolved not to think about. It was Draco's favourite dessert, and she remembered many a night during patrols or prefect meetings where he had tasted of them when they kissed before getting to work on their duties.

She and Blaise grew undeniably close that year. She was busier than she had ever been, having to balance her school life with running a system to protect her housemates.

"I don't know what I would do without you," Blaise admitted one night while writing a rotation schedule for patrols for that month.

Ara smiled, squeezing his hand lightly. "Me neither. With Draco and Theo-" she broke off, a lump forming in her throat. Katie Bell had returned from St. Mungo's the past week, just in time for Christmas.

Draco had stiffened, idly moving his spoon around in his breakfast and pointedly not looking at Ara when she went to check on the Gryffindor Chaser. Ara had been the one to find Katie suspended in the air that day in Hogsmeade.

"I know you aren't returning to school next year," Blaise said quietly after a few minutes. She felt the rippling magic of a silencing charm around them, and saw Blaise's hand in his pocket.

Ara wasn't surprised. "I'm not." she agreed.

"Granger and Weasley are coming with you right?"

"They are." she agreed again. "Remember the Horcruxes I told you about? There are more. We're going to hunt them down."

Blaise was silent for a few seconds. "I want to come with you guys."

Ara looked at him in surprise.

He waved her off. "I'm done sitting idle. And the rest of our classmates can run the resistance here."

"I-" she hesitated. "It's going to be dangerous. But it's your choice. And I can't say that having an extra hand or two wouldn’t be useful."

"Okay," he nodded. "I'll owl mother and let her know I won't come back for the holidays."

Ara felt a rush of affection for her friends. "Can you meet us at the room of requirement at 11 PM today?"

Ara hesitantly stood outside of the seventh-floor bathroom.

She had been in the forest with Luna and the thestrals in a rare moment of peace when she looked at the marauder's map. She saw Draco's dot alone in the seventh-floor bathroom, and when she looked at it in another ten minutes, he was still there, pacing in front of the sinks.

Luna pulled a few more apples from their bag. "I know you want to go to him."

Ara didn't even ask how Luna knew what she was looking at. Somehow, Luna always _knew._ "He doesn't want to see me, Luna."

Luna shrugged. "Sometimes the ones we love are the hardest to ask for help. He may not want it, but he needs someone."

Ara smiled gratefully at Luna, slipping her map back into the bag. "What would I do without you, Luna?"

They laughed. "You'll never have to know. Now go."

She pushed the door open slowly, breathing out in relief when it didn't make any noise. Draco was bent over the sink, gripping it so tightly that Ara could see the skin pulled white over his knuckles. He was crying, she realized. His shoulders were shaking and he was making soft sobbing noises that broke her heart.

"Draco?" she said softly. He whipped around, brandishing his wand in one hand as he turned. She disarmed him with a flick of her hand, easily catching his wand as it flew towards her. It felt warm and familiar to her, recognizing her touch.

"Drop the act," she walked a few steps closer and he looked down, turning back to the sink- away from her.

"I told you to stay away from me," he growled. Ara could tell that he was trying to sound menacing, but the wetness in his voice ruined the effect.

She came closer, reaching a hand out to him, and gently used an arm to maneuver him towards her. He pointedly looked in the other direction, but Ara could feel him shaking under her hand.

On impulse, she pulled him closer and hugged him tight, resting her chin on his shoulder and squeezing her eyes shut. He resisted for a few seconds but then she felt him slump against her, burying his face in her hair as he continued to shake. She cast a drying charm on the floor and pulled him down gently, holding him tighter as he buried his face in her shoulder, his tears falling on her shirt. She pulled per legs under her and ran a soothing hand through his hair.

Eventually, the shaking subsided, and he slowly sat up straighter, scrubbing a hand over his face. He was pointedly not looking at her, training his eyes at the floor of the bathroom instead.

"What happened?" she asked carefully.

He scoffed. "What do you think happened?"

"Merlin, Draco. I can help you, you know that right?" he leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling.

"No, you can't. You're enough danger as it is. Stay away from me."

"You know I can't do that. And I know what your task is."

"Then you know I'm going to fail."

"If I can't do anything to help," she said after a few seconds. "But if you give me a date, I can keep the school safe."

"The 30th of June," he said, and then- "I'm sorry."

"Draco," she said. "I know it isn't your fault. I won't be returning next year but there's a chance that we will meet and I need you to know that no matter what happens, I know your heart is in the right place."

"I've missed you," he admitted. "But I can't talk to you anymore."

Ara stood up, gently pushing him off of her. She kissed him one last time, closing her eyes as his hands cupped her face. "Good luck," he said, and she left.

When she left, she deftly climbed the steps up to Dumbledore's office. She whispered the password and walked in. "I know you're going after a Horcrux next month," she said without preamble when he looked up. "I want in."

If she had been his golden girl rather than her own person, he would have asked her to come. But instead, he looked at her impassively. "It's dangerous, and I see no reason for you to come."

Ara clenched her jaw, plopping down into a chair. "Considering you don't know any parselmouths or anyone else with a piece of _his_ soul stuck in his head, I'd say you need me. Besides, I have Regulus' notes."

Dumbledore was staring at her, jaw slightly agape. "How do you-"

"Where do you want me to start?" she sighed. "First of all, you know how I'm a parselmouth. I fell into one of Professor Snape's memories when we were training. I saw you telling him that I too am a Horcrux. I know about Horcruxes because I am Heiress Black and I have access to the Black Library. My room in Grimmauld Place was once Regulus' and he tried to destroy one, but I don't know what happened to it. Lastly, I have basilisk fangs. Now you take me with you or I won't cooperate with any of your plans for me."

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair. His eyes had lost their twinkle.

"Where did I go wrong?" He asked finally. "You hate me more than anyone has before, except perhaps Tom Riddle."

Ara exhaled through her nose. "You raised me like a pig for slaughter. You criticize everything that I am as if you are a saint. You overlook the safety of the Slytherin students. You have tried to manipulate me again, and again. By your answer, I am assuming that you will take me along with you."

Dumbledore nodded reluctantly. "I will, on the condition that you do what I tell you to, to keep yourself safe."

Ara stood up, looking down her nose at the professor. "That would be the first time you prioritized my safety, Professor. Let me know when you're leaving."

She walked out of the room, making sure her robes swirled behind her dramatically.

When the night came, Ara held the locket in her hand as they portkeyed back to the castle. She knew that there would be an attack on the school that night, and had made sure to alert all the prefects and some of the professors to keep the students under lockdown. Dumbledore was sagging against her, still woozy from the potion that he had drunk.

Ara dreaded what was waiting for them at the castle. They entered the astronomy tower, and Ara had never felt fear as bad as when she cast a dillusion over herself under Dumbledore's orders.

She saw Draco's wand shake, and she knew he wouldn't be able to cast it. She looked at Fenrir Greyback, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Professor Snape, and knew what was going to happen before it did.

Snape cast the curse, and Ara watched in mute horror as the most powerful wizard in Britain fell to the ground, dying even before his body hit the floor.

The death eaters made to run, but not before Ara whipped her dillusion off and screamed the incantation for a cutting curse at Bellatrix and Greyback's legs. She ran outside, catching only Draco's apologetic eyes, and Snape's determined ones as she ran to help the prefects and Professors chase the Death Eaters away from the school.

Ara cast an immobilizing curse at a Death eater who was sneaking up on Ron, and Blaise pushed her out of the way when he saw a green light coming towards her.

When the last of them had been chased away, Ara made sure to scream a -"Coward!" at Snape's back. He did what he had to, but that didn't mean Ara forgave him.

At the funeral a few days later, Ara spoke. She rested her forearms on the platform and looked over the massive crowd.

"Hello everyone," she began. "I'm Aralynn Potter-Black, and anyone who knew anything about me knew that Dumbledore and I didn’t along." She paused. "But for whatever personal reasons I had, even I can't deny that he was a great wizard. He was one of the first magical people that I had ever heard about, and this is what I knew." she held up a chocolate frog card, and there were a few titters of laughter from the card. "He was brave but cowardly. He was powerful but weak. He was an icon, but he was feared. And till this date, he is the only person that Voldemort had ever feared. For all I disliked him, he was almost a mythical figure to me. He was _alive._ I could not comprehend a world where he didn’t exist. But now I'm in one. So for all of you, I will say some of the things I learned from him. It is our choices that define us. And what is most relevant now- happiness can be found in even the darkest of times, if one remembers to switch on the light. To keep his memory alive, we must fight for a good cause. He once told me that with great power, comes great responsibility. We are magical blooded, and power floods through our veins. And we all have a responsibility right now. To fight for our cause- the one he died protecting." She raised her wand, and a tendril of light flew out of it. "To Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore."

The crowd copied her, and soon the sky was filled with beautiful strands of light.

"I still _hate_ him," Ara admitted to her dormmates- along with Milli and Blaise, that night. "But I never wanted him dead."

"I know," Tracy said.

"I can't believe you aren't returning this year," Daphne said softly. Ara opened her arms and one by one, her friends all held each other in their arms.

"I love you all so much," Ara said, her voice slightly choked. "And I'm so proud of the people you've grown to become."

**Seventh year**

She hugged Dudley tight in July. They had spent all the time they could together, him pushing her to her limits while training in what little time she had. "Stay safe," she said, feeling slightly choked up. There was a high chance of her death this year, and she wanted to make sure that he was safe in the place that the Order was taking them.

He hugged her back just as tight. _"You_ stay safe. Please come back. _"_

"I'll do my best," she promised. Uncle Vernon didn't say anything to her, only shaking her hand before leaving out the door. It was only her and Aunt Petunia left.

She clasped her hands tightly together. "Don't die," was all she said. Ara laughed. "You know me, Aunt Petunia. I don't die easily." no other words were said but Ara caught a smile before her aunt left.

Ara held her hands protectively over her hair. "Don't even think about it."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Either you give us your hair or we take it from your hairbrush. You're an underage witch and we're thirteen adults who can use magic."

Ara sneered but plucked a few strands of her hair out. She added it to the vial and watched as the liquid in it turned molten silver.

She watched as Ron, Fred, George, Hermione, Blaise, and Fleur slowly transformed into her. She ran a hand through her hair. Ara had cut her hair to her chin a few weeks ago, anticipating that it would be hard to manage her usual longer hair on the run. "You better be transfiguring their clothes," she snapped at Moody.

At the wedding, Blaise and Ara were polyjuiced into a French couple who were friends of Fleur's. It made it easier for Ara to hug Fleur and Bill at the reception, and watch Ron and Hermione dance in the tent.

"You think they'll finally admit their feelings to each other?" Blaise murmured as they danced together.

"Nah." Ara scoffed. "Watch this-" Blaise twirled her around dramatically, and Ara felt her skirt swirl around her knees.

"What a sweet young couple they are," She said loudly in her charmed-French accent, smiling widely at Ron and Hermione. Hermione shot them a flustered glare as Ron's ears reddened.

"I agree, _mon ange."_ Blaise said. He didn't have to fake a French accent. His mother was Italian and made sure that he learned how to speak most of the European languages fluently. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek to keep their image, and also because she was just grateful to have another Slytherin with her.

Luna still recognized Ara immediately. Ara was shorter now, with fair skin and a pixie cut, slightly similar to how Ginny had cut her hair a few years ago. But not much got past Luna.

When the Patronus came, Hermione apparated them all to an alley in London, Kingsley's voice echoing in their ears.

Ara missed her best friends. She had Hermione, Blaise, and Ron with her while they were on the run, but she missed the rest of them. She missed Ginny and Daphne, who were quietly running the resistance at school. She missed Pansy and Milli and Tracey and Theo and Luna and Draco.

And Draco, Draco, Draco.

Everyone in the manor could hear her screams. Her throat was raw from yelling itself hoarse, Bellatrix's cackles filling her ears as she cast the curse on her. She knew Draco would have to cast it next. He _had_ to prove his loyalty somehow. When they locked eyes, his wand gripped in his fingers, she pushed through his mental barriers the way that Snape had taught her and brought all of his worst memories to the forefront of his mind. So when he looked her in the eyes and cast, her screams filled the room once again.

"Tonks gave birth," Remus said, his normally pale skin flushed with happiness. "We named him Teddy, and his hair is already changing colour. Ara, you'll be godmother, right?"

Ara's throat was hoarse from screaming in Malfoy Manor a few days ago, and she couldn't speak. But she leaned across the table and hugged Remus, nodding happily to convey her agreement.

That evening, as they sat in the kitchen of shell cottage, Ara held up a strand of curly black hair. "It's hers." she rasped.

Hermione looked at her in understanding. "To get into her vault, right?" Ara nodded.

Blaise clenched his jaw, something that would have gone unnoticed to most people, but Ara had shared a common room with him for six years. She raised an eyebrow at him questioningly. Blaise withdrew his hand from his pocket, and in his hand were a few white-blond hairs. Ara's breath hitched.

"I'm doing it too. Since she's your cousin, I'm assuming you're polyjuicing into her right? I'll turn into Draco."

Ara felt a pang of longing in her stomach, but she pushed it away and nodded. "You two," she said to Ron and Hermione. "Will you be under the cloak?"

"I wish to enter my vault," Ara practically sneered at the goblins.

It was fairly easy to imitate her cousin, and Blaise stood next to her, a haughty expression that Ara had seen on Draco's face many times before.

"You've never questioned my aunt before," he drawled in a perfect imitation of Draco's posh accent. "You wish to do so now because of a lowly rumour mill?"

Ara sneered. "You would do well to listen to him," she said, her voice sultry and soft. "I don't like being questioned."

When they escaped on a dragon, hastily casting drying charms as they changed, Ara spoke, Hufflepuff's cup burning her hip from where she'd shoved into her waistband as they left.

"He knows," she said, pulling a shirt on and straightening it out. "We need to move soon."

Blaise wolf-whistled, earning himself a stinging hex to the stomach. "Merlin, woman. You know I don't like tits."

Ara shared a grin with Hermione as the shorter girl zipped up her jacket. After living in a tent together for over six months, they really didn't see the need to change in different areas.

Ara flipped Blaise off as she quickly cast a drying charm on her short hair. She had cut it even shorter, the short strands falling into a messy pixie cut. "I know where the next one is too."

When Snape's drawling voice filled the Great Hall, Ara pushed herself forward. But in this version, Pansy Parkinson was the first one to stand next to her, glaring defiantly up at their headmaster. Slowly, the upper years of all the houses broke away to protect the younger years in a show of solidarity that Hogwarts had never seen before. But none of them stood in front of her, no. She had Pansy and Ginny on either side of her and an army of students at her back. She wouldn't let anyone else stand in her way. 

When McGonagall whipped her wand out and there were gasps of horror, Ara almost smiled through her duel with a Death Eater.

"Crucio!" Ara screamed at Amycus Carrow.

"Potter-" McGonagall gasped. "That was very noble of you, but what are you-"

"He spat at you." Ara snarled.

She could feel Draco's arms tight around her waist as they flew, Crabbe's screams echoing in her ears as they battled the heat of the fire. She longed for better times, but she just gripped the broom tighter and concentrated on getting them out.

Ara traced the lines of Fred's face, her other arm focused on keeping Ron upright. She had _just_ cast a cutting curse at Augustus Rookwood's neck, watching him fall to the floor, gurgling as he choked on his own blood in the middle of the explosion that he had caused.

The explosion that had killed Fred.

She gently placed a kiss on his forehead. Fred had been to one to give her the map. He had winked at her and spelled the steps to be less squeaky when Ara snuck out of the Burrow to go flying. He had spoken to her quietly in the kitchen of the Burrow less than a year ago, assuring her that he didn’t blame her for George's lost ear. He had hugged her tight at the wedding, telling her that Ginny wasn't the only little sister he had.

She tightened her arm around Ron and felt Blaise rest his chin on her shoulder. Ara could see Hermione's dark curls on Ron's other side. She looked at Draco's blond head as he ran out of the room, and etched his broken features into her memory.

She left the brothers to mourn and crouched down near the corpses of Remus and Tonks. She pulled Sirius into a hug, tears finally spilling out of her eyes when she saw his red-rimmed ones.

"They're all gone," he gasped, and Ara felt guilt drop into her stomach at what she was about to do. Tonks was Sirius' niece and Remus was his best friend. Tonks was like an older sister to Ara, and Remus was one of her father figures.

She felt their loss deeply but knew that she would see them soon.

"I'm so proud of you, my darling girl." Her mother's silver figure was in front of her, only a few years older than Ara was now. She rolled the stone in her hand.

Merlin, she had been so _young._

She was surrounded by the dead. Her parents and Remus and Tonks, and Cedric and Daphne.

God, Daphne.

Strong, Beautiful Daphne who had always had her back. Ara had caught sight of her body while walking out, her heart dropping into her stomach as she slipped through the crowd in her cloak.

Luna had walked Ara out to the forest. They were the only one of her friends who understood destiny. And as they stood at the forest's edge- "Tell him I loved him. Tell all of them." The younger Ravenclaw wrapped her in a tight hug. They knew what destiny was. That didn't mean they had to like it. "I love you so much Luna," she whispered to Luna as she pulled back, and Luna kissed her lightly on her forehead. "Thank you for everything."

Now, she saw her dead around her. "I love you guys so much," she echoed, and Daphne smiled at her.

"We love you too."

"Does it hurt?" she paused. "Dying."

It was Cedric who answered. Brave, handsome Cedric, who she was now older than. "Quicker and easier than falling asleep," he promised.

"We'll be with you every step of the way," Tonks added.

Remus looked at Ara proudly. "You've been so strong, Ara." Her father nodded. "We're all so incredibly proud of you," he said warmly.

Everyone had been right, she _did_ look a lot like him.

"Thank you," she whispered, "I'll see you all soon-" and she let the stone fall.

And when the curse was cast, it wasn't Dumbledore who appeared.

No, this young Potter was crueler than the other had ever been. She was vicious and ruthless, a proud daughter of the Blacks rather than Dumbledore's pawn. So when she woke up in King's cross, it was Regulus Black who appeared.

"I expected you to be taller," she said, recognizing him as her Godfather's younger brother. "Where are we?"

"The in-between," he answered, "Come take a walk with me."

When she woke up, cool dirt of the forest against her cheek, It was another daughter of the Blacks kneeling over her. "Draco," Narcissa had said urgently. "Is he alive?" When Ara breathed back an affirmative, the dark rejoiced at her death- because she did die. They just didn't know that she had come back.

And when Hagrid carried her to the grounds (The beginning is the end) there were still screams of outrage. Only this time, there were hundreds of Slytherins too, wands in the air as they screamed for justice for the death of their leader.

When Lucius Malfoy whispered for his son to come forward, he did. But then there was Neville Longbottom and the sword and the snake. When Ara rolled out of the arms of Hagrid, Draco threw his wand to her as she faced off with the man who killed her.

"You're human now, Tom," she said, feeling Draco's wand responding to her magic as she twirled it in between her fingers. "Just like me." She looked him in his serpentine eyes.

"Orphaned, Half-Blood." they circled each other.

"Slytherin. Same wand core, even."

And when he yelled in ager and they duelled, both of their spells green like her eyes (she didn't want him disarmed, she wanted him _dead_ ), it was like a human that he fell towards the ground.

Cheers erupted around her.

Instead of cheering, she hugged her friends tight. Ron and Ginny, who had lost a brother. Tracy, who had lost her best friend. Dennis, whose older brother had been part of the casualties. Sirius, who sobbed in relief when she reached out for him. Hermione and Blaise, who looked strangely similar in the weary lines of their faces, and dirt covering their dark skin. Parvati, who was crouching over Lavender's body. Only Ara had known that they were dating in the sixth year.

And when she moved through the crowds, they parted for her. And there they were. The Malfoys. Narcissa, Daughter of the Blacks, and Lucius, who just wanted to save his family. And Draco. It was only a matter of time before the Aurors came for them. She moved to them, Lucius wary, Narcissa grateful, and Draco-

Draco broke apart from his parents, and when he came closer it was both of them that reached for each other. Ara pressed her face into the crook of his neck. She could feel his ribs poking through his shirt, and both of them were injured and covered in dirt. Ara didn’t' care.

She knew people were watching them. "I'm so sorry," he said into her hair.

She only hugged him tighter. "Everyone saw you throw your wand."

He shook his head. "The Aurors will still come for us."

She grabbed his shoulder. "I'll get you out. I promise."

She hugged him tightly again, pressing her forehead into the crook of his neck. "I love you," she mumbled against his skin.

He laughed wetly. "I love you too Potter. So much."

She released him. "You'll be okay."

And two months later, when Aunt Andromeda came with her to the ministry, Sirius at their heels with a babbling Teddy, she did get him out. Hermione and Pansy had helped her write a speech, the three of them curled up in the living room of the flat that the remaining Slytherin girls, Ginny, and Pansy stayed in together.

She gave her speech, and got them out. She had never been hugged so tight as Draco did when he was released. He looked ragged and tired, skinnier than she ever remembered him being.

But god, she loved him. 

Aunt Andromeda and Teddy were already living with her and Sirius in Grimmauld Place. Sirius and Ara were Teddy's godparents, and they vowed that they would always be there for him.

A five-minute discussion later, and Narcissa and Draco were being moved in too. Ara was delighted. Sirius was less delighted. "As long as you cast silencing charms on your room," he said, looking at them coyly. "Young Mister Malfoy seems like he would be a screamer."

Draco flushed, and Ara grabbed Sirius in a headlock, both of them toppling to the floor in the process. Sirius' elbow pressed into her side as they fell down.

Aunt Andromeda sighed. "Like kids, these two. Come, Cissa," she said. "I'll show you to your room. Ara, take Draco. No funny business."

Sirius rubbed his chest where Ara's elbow had smacked him. "Like that'll keep them away from each other."

Ara just flipped him off, shrinking Draco's bags and pulling him to her room. She paused in front of the door. "Do you want the next one or do you just want to stay with me?"

"But Aunt Andromeda-"

"She doesn't care. Like Sirius said, as long as we put Silencing charms up…" she trailed off. "We're adults Draco. But if you aren't comfor-" he cut her off.

"No, no," he said, his ears turning red. "Lead the way."

"Fantastic," she grinned. She walked into her room, closing the door behind Draco. Her room was relatively plain, a picture of their year group from the fifth year and a couple of others of their friends and their families on the walls.

Her bedding was plain green, and there were two pictures on the dressers on either side of the bed. On the right, there was one of the two of them from fifth year that Pansy had clicked. On the left, there was a picture of her, Blaise, Ron, and Hermione that they had clicked using a disposable camera when they were on the run last year.

"Aww," Draco teased. "So sentimental." she jabbed him in the stomach, but he twisted until they were facing each other. For someone who made fun of her for being sentimental, he had an awfully affectionate look on his face.

"I love you," he said fondly, and Ara reveled at how easy it was to be with him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her chin on his shoulder. "I'm so glad you're here."

"Me too."

When they went downstairs the next morning, Sirius wolf-whistled, not even looking up from where he was feeding Teddy.

"Oh, shut up," Ara grumbled, gently taking Teddy from him and cradling him to her chest. Andromeda was at the stove, and Narcissa was smiling into her mug of coffee. God, she was so glad to be alive.

There were bad nights, though. When she woke up with a gasp, heart pounding, she sat up and switched on the small lamp next to her and read until her eyes burned, too scared to go back to sleep. But there was Draco, shifting slightly in his sleep to be closer to her, his head gently nudging her stomach as she traced the bare skin of his back.

There were moments when she saw the red lights of celebratory fireworks in the distance and Ara froze, remembering Bellatrix's cackle and the flash of red light as she screamed.

But then there was Sirius, gently taking Teddy out of her arms so she could take a moment to herself.

Ron still carried basilisk fangs with him in a pocket in his wand holster. Hermione reached her hands into her pockets every few minutes and rolled her fingers around what Ara knew was Dittany. Blaise winced whenever he heard a loud noise, his hands coming up to cover his ears as he closed his eyes and counted to ten.

Draco still froze whenever he saw a pretty necklace, and he clawed at his Dark Mark in his sleep. But Ara was there to distract him, and to move his other arm so that it was wrapped around her instead.

There were still people who sneered at him when they walked down Diagon Ally together.

"I don't mind it," Draco confessed as they repaired the Slytherin Dungeons in August. "It keeps them from bothering you,"

Even after loving each other for so long, her cheeks still warmed when he did something sweet for her.

When the Hogwarts letters came, they both decided not to go. Draco chose to complete his studies at home. Ara took Kingsley's offer and joined the Aurors.

"Aren't you tired of fighting?" Draco asked her one day in October after she came home sweaty and bruised from training. She flicked some foam from her bubble bath onto him.

"I like being in the middle of change," she answered, sighing in contentment as Draco's hands massaged her scalp.

When December rolled around, Ara apparated them both to Godric's Hollow. She pulled Draco lightly until they came across her parent's graves.

"Hermione and I came here last year," she said and kneeled down. "Hey mum, dad," she said softly. "I'm back. It's been a while since I've seen you, and a lot has changed."

She paused. "The stone is in the forest. I didn't trust myself to keep it safe, so I left it there. The wand is in Dumbledore's grave." She felt Draco's hand on her shoulder. "I kept Ignotus' gift though, dad. It's our family's, after all."

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Potter," Draco said. Ara looked at him, and he kneeled down. "You would be so proud of the woman Ara's grown to become."

She rested her head on Draco's shoulder, similar to how Hermione had stood last year with her. "Merry Christmas Draco."

"Merry Christmas Ara."

The months flew by, and soon Ara was done with training, having taken the accelerated program. She left early in the morning, often only pausing to kiss Draco and ruffle Teddy's hair before she was out of the door. Draco passed his newt's with all outstandings, and he joined a Potion's program for young people who wanted to pursue a mastery. When June rolled around, Ara and Sirius spoke up over breakfast. 

"Ara and I are taking a portkey over to the states for a few days," Sirius said. Narcissa raised an eyebrow, and Ara continued. "Milli's over in the US, and he says there's a march going on called the pride march."

She hadn't even said anything about it to Draco, but he knew how important defending her community was to her.

"As the resident Gay-"

"I'm _bisexual-_ "

"Members of the household," Sirius continued, evading her elbow, "We wanted to take part in it too."

"I see," Aunt Andromeda said. "You've both taken leave off work then?" They nodded.

"Okay," she said, "Stay safe."

"Can I come too?" Draco asked quietly.

Ara blinked at him. "Sure?" she said. "But you're straight."

He shrugged. "If I can support you guys, then I will."

Ara smiled widely at him. "Excellent,"

And a week later, she sat on his shoulders as they walked the streets of New York, both of their cheeks painted in rainbow colours.

The years passed faster than they realised.

Ara proudly stood as maid of honor in Blaise and Theo's wedding two years later, and Luna and Ginny's a year after that. She walked with Dudley in parks that reminded them of their childhood, took Teddy to preschool, and fed Draco on late nights when his mastery studies kept him up. She captured criminals and help rewrite reforms.

"I have a day off tomorrow, and Dudley is in between boxing tournaments. His trainer is injured, so he wanted me to come to help out for old time's sake. Do you want to come to watch?" Ara asked Draco a few weeks before her twenty-third birthday.

"Sure," he shrugged. "I've never seen you fight before, it should be fun."

"What kind of physical training did your-" Dudley looked at the few other people in the room- "Law enforcement training include?"

They circled each other lightly, not for the first time that day.

"Not much until we wrote new reforms," she admitted. "But now there's mandatory beginner's fighting classes. But don't get all cocky on me, we have a _magical_ gym on our floor, and I've been going as often as I can."

"I think I learned my lesson in underestimating you years ago, Ara. I wouldn't dare."

He gingerly touched his jaw. "Yeah. That training of yours has given you some _really_ good reflexes."

She sat down in the chairs nearby, accepting the bottle of water that Draco held out to her.

"You should see her duel," Draco interjected softly. "She's won the ministry award for Best Dueller in the Magical Law enforcement for two years running."

Later, as the two of them left a few hours later, with promises of visiting for dinner next week, Draco spoke to her again. "That was pretty fucking impressive," he admitted.

"I haven't had that much fun in a while," she laughed. "And I'm glad you enjoyed watching it."

The next week at their weekly dinner at the Weasleys, Ron and Hermione announced their engagement, all hell breaking loose once Hermione held up her hand with the shiny ring on it.

Ara and Ginny had gone with him to choose the ring the previous month, and Ara sent a wink over to two of her best friends as she spoke to Percy about the new vampire legislation.

Teddy was curled up next to her, his head resting on her chest as he finally crashed from all the sugar that he had earlier that evening. Sirius and Draco were off somewhere, undoubtedly searching for more food, while George tried to sneak suspicious looking blue liquid into Bill's drink.

Victoire was curled up right next to Teddy, and Ara barely resisted cooing at how adorable the two best friends were next to each other.

The years seemed to fly even faster from there on. 

She babysitted little Rose Granger-Weasley, and Draco got down on one knee during their yearly trip to her parent's graves.

She said yes, of course she did.

Sirius was sad when they moved out, but he had his cousins and his godson, who now switched between his godparent's houses every few weeks. Draco completed his mastery, and joined the potioneer's ranks at St. Mungo's.

She took a year off when she got pregnant with the twins the next year, terrified but also so excited to enter this next stage of their lives.

Draco had been overjoyed, of course, but her nagging kept him up at night. "Fuck, Draco. I fought a basilisk and infiltrated the ministry. How can I become a parent?" "The Dragon just wanted to escape at that time, it seemed like a good idea-"

He just smiled and put an arm around her. "We'll do fantastic, _you'll_ do fantastic. Besides, I got into some pretty weird shit too, so maybe they'll cancel each other out?"

And when they put her son in her arms, she knew that they would be alright. She looked into his bleary gray eyes, so much like Draco's, and fell in love immediately.

The traditions never stopped. They all went to the burrow on Sundays, as many people as possible coming along with their kids. On Thursdays, Ara's friends all came to their place for dinner, some of them with toddlers in their arms.

When Teddy went off to Hogwarts, their whole family had gone to see him off. She and Draco each held one of their kids in their arms (Cassiopeia Luna and Scorpius Regulus.)

Teddy had hugged her tight before boarding, Marauder's map in his pocket and a spark in his eyes. "I'll make you proud, ma."

They had tried to break him out of the habit of calling her that years ago, but he still persisted. Ara didn't mind, and neither did their family, as long as he knew who his real mother was.

Ara still visited Daphne's grave every month. Sometimes, Pansy, Tracy, and Milli would come with her, all of them silently sitting there or talking to her about their lives. All of them had grown older, and Ara could see a few laugh lines near her eyes when she smiled in front of the mirror.

But Daphne would forever remain eighteen.

She visited Godric's hollow too, still a shrine from decades past. She left flowers at her parent's graves and visited Remus' and Tonks' with Teddy, Andromeda, and Sirius.

Ara often sat quietly in the lab where Draco brewed on her days off. The twins were at preschool now, and both she and Draco would be turning thirty soon. "Do you ever wonder what would have happened if I hadn't confronted you in fifth year?" she asked one day. It was almost exactly a year from when she accepted the Head Auror position.

"No," Draco said firmly. "I'm happy with the life we have now."

A few years passed and it was her other godchildren and then her own who she saw off at Hogwarts. It was Teddy's last year and Cassy and Cory's first. Her hair had a few gray strands in it, and a few more scars adorned her body.

"I'm a little surprised that they sorted Ravenclaw," she said to her husband during breakfast the next day. "But, I'm so proud."

Three years later, and they were both approaching forty. Dudley's only daughter was showing signs of being magical and had called their home number in panic when she changed her teacher's hair colour. It had been terrifying at the moment, but when Ara floo'd over with Draco the next day after work, she laughed herself silly over the irony of her niece turning her teacher's hair green. 

Ara had spoken to them, and given Dudley a pass from her Department so that his family could enter Diagon Alley without her.

Teddy had moved to Asia, studying Magical law with Victoire. He still called them every week to talk, chatting and complaining about things in a way that she remembered talking to Sirius about Auror training when she was his age.

Percy's daughter, Molly, had been made prefect, and Cassy was well on her way to becoming Quidditch captain in her next year. She and Cory had aggressively lobbed a bludger at a student who said that Cassy couldn't play as well as the rest of the teammates because she was a girl, and Ara and Draco grinned at each other in the Quidditch stands.

"Minerva owled me at work yesterday," she told Draco one day. They were walking in the park near Grimmauld place where they used to take Teddy when he was a toddler, in the early 2000s, when they were young adults fresh out of a war.

Draco paused, and they sat down on a bench nearby. He looked at her expectantly. "What did the kids do? Honestly, if they snuck out again, could you get Neville to talk to them-"

"She wants me to take the defense position."

"Oh," Draco said. "Do you want to?"

She sighed. "I don't know, Draco. Hermione only got elected last month, and I need to keep my department together until I find a successor that won't rebel against her."

If it had been a few years ago, she wouldn't have hesitated. But now she was the head of the entire DMLE, and they couldn't afford to have a head change so quickly after the election.

"Ask her if the position will be open in a few years, then," he suggested. "I know how much you love teaching, and I can tell that the department is wearing you down."

"It is," she agreed. "But I love my job."

"I know you do. But I know you love teaching too."

"I'll think about it."

Ara gaped at Teddy. He was looking at her defiantly, with Sirius sitting on the couch next to her. She felt Andromeda's loss as both of them looked down at their godson. Andromeda had passed away a few years ago, a genetic heart condition taking her away just as Teddy finished his second year of studying law.

"I'm sorry," she shook her head. "You….what?"

Teddy lifted his chin. "I burned the werewolf registry."

Ara clenched her jaw. "But somehow, we're sitting here, in my living room. How come I'm not leading you to a holding cell while reading you your rights?"

"Yeah, Ted. Answer her." Sirius said. Sirius was nearly sixty, but he was still working under her as one of her senior-most Aurors. He still had a _lot_ of life left in him.

Teddy's lips tipped upward in a half-smile. "Victoire and I found a loophole. They can't arrest me."

Ara pursed her lips. "By 'they' you mean Sirius and I can't, right? I hope you realize that you've caused a lot of trouble for my department."

Teddy looked at her, slightly guilty. "Sorry, Ma. But I would do it again if I could. Especially with the loophole that we found."

"But," Ara added. She reached forward and pulled him into a hug. "That doesn't mean I'm not proud. My position leaves very little rule for rebellion, so it's nice to see the youngsters get up to what we used to."

Teddy hugged her back tightly. "Aunt Hermione was _delighted_ when I told her. She definitely had to do some press conferences to talk about it, since she was once working on the reforms before she moved onto politics. But she was still proud."

Sirius laughed. "You sound exactly like Tonks and Ara when they were your age. You know, when your godmother was your age, she tore down the Auror regulations and helped rewrite them. When I say tore down, I mean _tore down._ She ripped them off the wall in the atrium and set them on fire."

Teddy gaped at her.

"I wasn't always this old, Ted. I was a rebellious youngster once too." she said with an amused smile.

A few years later, when Ara's kids were in their final year, she accepted the position that Minerva had offered her. She handed over her department to the previous head of the Aurors, and spent the summer reviewing lesson plans. Her son was Head Boy, and her daughter was Quidditch captain, both of them with shiny badges pinned to their chests as they got onto the train.

"I'll see you in a few hours," her daughter said to her, grinning as she boarded the train. She looked so much like Ara had at that Age, only healthier, and with lighter skin. Both of her children looked like her, but Cory had Draco's colouring.

She waved them off at the train, sharing a knowing look with Ron and Hermione as they sent Hugo off for his last year. Rose had already graduated and was touring with the Winbourne wasps as their reserve chaser.

"Are you sure you have everything?" Draco asked her before she portkeyed over for the welcoming speech.

"I'm sure," she told him, fingering the tiny bell in her pocket that was her portkey. "I'll see you this weekend, love you."

"Good luck," he said before the portkey whisked her away to the grounds.

She had been many things in her life. Aralynn Potter-Black, the girl-who-lived turned woman-who-won, and Slytherin's head student. She had been a prefect, a war hero, a girlfriend, a goddaughter, a godmother. She had been a best friend, an auror, and a wife. She had been a sub-department head, a department head, and a mother.

And now she was here, the wards of her old school humming pleasantly as she entered them. She felt their acceptance just as she smelt the sweet smell of the grounds that she instantly recognized from her many years there.

Now, she was Professor Aralynn (Black) Potter-Malfoy, Defence Professor, and Head of Slytherin House.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the final chapter! I've tweaked a few events to fit the timeline of this story
> 
> oh, yeah- there was something i did want to mention that i forgot about in chapter one.  
> fuck jkr. and her transphobic views 
> 
> Leave me a comment and tell me what you think <3


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